


beyond the reach of proof

by random_chick



Series: an element calm and deep [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-04
Updated: 2014-03-04
Packaged: 2018-01-14 13:30:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 6,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1268185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/random_chick/pseuds/random_chick
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Life is returning to normal for Coulson and Anna -- and then there's a minor bump in the road, courtesy of his ex-girlfriend, who wants to meet his new girlfriend. Anna isn't entirely certain about it but agrees anyway; there's nerves, there's reassurances, and there's two women who could possibly make Phil Coulson's life very, very interesting.</p><p>What more does he need?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Written for kidficstory 2013 @ LJ

Things had gone pretty well for Coulson and Anna since that whole incident where she’d walked out on him. They’d wound up moving in together, and shortly after that, they’d gotten some news of dubious goodness that concerned them both.

So now, after a couple months of life together, they had a small but important handful of important milestones in their lives -- a little over a year since Coulson’s death, they’d been dating for eight months, and Anna was three months pregnant. Depending on the day, they were varying degrees of excited about that last one -- and understandably so.

Anna puttered in the kitchen, getting breakfast ready. She wasn’t the cook in their little family, but Phil had had a busy night and she’d figured he deserved to sleep in, so she was getting breakfast ready while he slept in a bit. She wasn’t domestic, exactly, but she could manage well enough. Plus she’d had one hell of a craving.

She ran a hand absently over her stomach. It was still strange to think that there was a little life growing in there, that she was going to be a mother. She still didn’t think she was at all ready for it, but she wasn’t going to let that stop her from facing it with all the strength she had in her.

“How long have you been up?” came the voice from the doorway.

Anna turned slightly, hand still resting on her barely-curving stomach. “Phil, you’re supposed to be in bed,” she scolded. “You didn’t get in til late, what are you doing up now?”

Coulson pointed to the coffeemaker. “The smell of that woke me up.”

“What can I say?” Anna grinned. “I make a great cup of coffee. That much is ready, I’m still working on the rest of it.”

“I don’t need anything else,” Coulson said, moving to grab a mug and pour himself a cup of coffee.

“Yes, you do,” Anna countered. “You’re getting bacon, sausage, and french toast.”

“You’re so good to me,” he said with a smile, taking a sip of his coffee.

“Well, in my defense, I _really_ wanted french toast and I was way too hungry to wait for you to wake up and make it for me.” Anna laughed. “Apparently I’m experiencing my first pregnancy cravings.”

Coulson laughed. “Well, as long as it doesn’t involve me running out in the middle of the night -- yet, anyway -- you’re more than welcome to crave whatever you want.”

“Well, good,” Anna said. “Because I hate to break it to you, Phil, but you really kind of don’t get a say in it.”

“I know, I know,” Coulson said, still laughing slightly.

“And finally, we have food!” Anna said cheerfully as she started dishing the food onto two plates a moment later. “I hope you’re hungry, because I most decidedly already am.” She handed one to Coulson. “If you’re going to be awake now, then you’re going to eat. Then you’re going to take a nap while I’m getting ready for work. I’ll wake you up before I leave.”

Despite living together, they didn’t often ride in together -- their daily schedules were different enough that it wasn’t often allowed for. And for the longest time, Coulson had been wary of it.

“I really don’t need it,” Coulson said, grabbing the silverware off the counter and heading into the living room.

“Yes, you do,” Anna said as she followed him. “You’ve had what, four hours of sleep?”

“Three, actually.”

“There you go.”

“Couple cups of this, I’ll be fine,” Coulson said, lifting his coffee cup for emphasis.

Anna knew better than to get between Coulson and his morning coffee, but even so…

“Phil, please,” she said. “It’ll be an extra half an hour, maybe forty-five minutes.”

He really couldn’t resist her, but that never stopped him from at least _trying_. “I really don’t need the nap,” he said. “But… I guess it couldn’t hurt.”

“Exactly,” Anna said with a satisfied nod. “So we finish breakfast, you lay back down, and I’ll go shower.”

Coulson gave her a smile as he took a seat. “I love you, y’know,” he said, the words a little muffled by the forkful of french toast he’d just shoved into his mouth.

“I know,” Anna said with a tender smile. “It’s the one thing I don’t doubt anymore.”

And that? Was an enormous step for her, given the issues Loki had burdened her with for so many months.

“That’s my girl.” He focused on his breakfast, knowing that Anna would want to tuck him back into bed as soon as possible.

Anna worked at her own breakfast, suddenly even more starving than she had been. She blamed the pregnancy for that, figuring she’d blame everything she possibly could on it. Between that and hormones, she had some great built-in excuses for a while.

Not that she was overly hormonal yet, thankfully. She wasn’t looking forward to when those really kicked in. But she’d handle it when the time came and she’d handle it with the determination that she handled everything. Sheer determination had gotten her through a lot of things in the past several months.

Within ten minutes, they’d finished eating. Anna took care of the dishes while she made sure Phil shuffled off into the bedroom. Once she’d taken care of them, she headed for the bedroom to make sure he was settled comfortably in bed and then headed for the shower.

She liked the mornings like this the best, she decided as she turned the shower on. The quietly domestic moments where everything was something approaching normal. They hadn’t had nearly enough of that in their lives lately.


	2. Chapter 2

Anna got out of the bathroom twenty minutes later, safely tucked in her overly fluffy robe and feeling much more human than a little bit earlier. “Phil, I -- ” She cut off upon realizing he was on the phone.

“Yeah, that’d be great, Fi,” Coulson said, as he lifted his hand and gave Anna a little wave of his fingers. “Just let me know when your flight gets in. Hang on, let me get a pen and paper.” He lifted the phone away from his mouth. “Anna, can you toss me that notepad over there?”

Anna picked up the notepad from the dresser and tossed it lightly onto the bed, arching an eyebrow at him curiously.

“I’ll tell you in a second,” he mouthed as he grabbed a pen from the nightstand. Into the phone, he said, “Okay, go.” He scribbled something down and laughed softly. “Do try and refrain from frightening your fellow passengers, please. I’d like you to get here successfully -- you can’t meet Anna if you get restrained by the air marshal or something.”

Whatever was said made him laugh again. “Yeah, yeah, shut up,” he said. “I’ll see you later today.” He hung up and looked at Anna. “Fi’s coming for a visit.”

“Fi?” It took Anna a second to put it together. “As in Fiona? Ex-girlfriend cellist Fiona?”

“That’d be her,” Coulson said with a nod.

“Oh. Um. Okay, then.” Anna ran her fingers through her wet hair, trying to detangle it. “How long’s she going to be in town?”

“A few days,” he replied. “She’s actually flying in to visit family, but she wants to meet you so we’re picking her up at the airport after work, and then hopefully we can get together with her at some point before she has to head home.”

Anna wasn’t at all sure about that, wasn’t at all sure that she wanted to meet the woman that Phil had previously been involved with. Because she knew he’d been in love with Fiona, and Fiona had presumably loved him in return. But she wasn’t going to argue with him, either. Mostly because she was entirely too conflicted to ask any questions.

“Fine by me,” she said, giving him a smile that didn’t entirely reach her eyes. It was all she could manage, though, and it was all she was going to give. She hid the rest of her reaction by going over to the closet and digging through for the particular suit she wanted to wear.

Coulson watched her thoughtfully. Something seemed off, but he couldn’t figure out what. And he wasn’t going to push it -- just yet, anyway. If she still seemed off the next time he saw her, _then_ he’d try pushing the matter and seeing what she said.


	3. Chapter 3

Anna sat at her desk, hip deep -- so to speak -- in paperwork. She was that rare, weird creature who legitimately didn’t mind the paperwork. It involved a lot of paying attention to detail and she was a very detail-oriented person.

A knock at her open office door caught her attention. “Come in,” she called out, not actually bothering to look up.

“Hey, Anna,” came the familiar voice of the fellow agent who’d become one of her good friends over the past few months.

“Hey, Sam.” Anna lifted a hand to wave before turning her attention back to the paperwork. “Come on in, have a seat, just gimme a sec to finish off this file.”

Samantha Farrell plopped down into the chair across from Anna, propping her feet up on the desk. “How’s the kidlet-to-be doing?”

“Doing well,” Anna replied, finally looking up. “Hitting all the appropriate growth milestones for a fetus three months along, the sonogram looks normal, and would you believe Phil’s got a copy of it in his wallet? That is kind of the most adorable thing I have ever heard of.”

“That _is_ adorable,” Farrell admitted. “Speaking of the baby daddy, how’s he doing?”

“He’s good,” Anna said. “His ex-girlfriend is coming into town to visit family and guess what? She wants to meet me.”

“Is this a good thing or a bad thing?” Farrell arched an eyebrow.

“I’m… not sure,” Anna admitted. “I mean… it’s not like anything’s going to happen between her and Phil. I know that. It’s over between them and they’re just friends now. But it’s still going to be _so_ unbelievably weird and awkward to be in the same space with them. Especially one as small as a car, considering that we’re picking her up from the airport after work.”

“Oh, dear.” Farrell cocked her head and looked at Anna. “Do you have a problem with meeting her?”

“Oddly enough, I don’t,” Anna said. “It’s just that… it’s a really weird situation to be in. Because she specifically wants to meet me. I mean… _why_ does she want to meet me?”

“Probably because they’re friends and like any good friend, she wants to know who the most important person in his life is and what they’re like,” Farrell pointed out reasonably.

Anna sighed. “I know. I know. It’s really confusing, is all.”

“And your hormones aren’t helping matters any,” Farrell said not at all helpfully.

Anna laughed. “Yeah, there’s that, too. Why does this all have to be so damnably frustrating?”

“The payoff’s going to be worth it in the end,” Farrell said. “Just keep that in mind.”

“It’s not that easy,” Anna grumbled. But at the same time, she had to admit that her friend might just have a point.

“Yeah, yeah.” Farrell just waved a hand dismissively. “Now, come on. Are you going to voluntarily walk away from your desk or do I have to physically drag you away to eat something?”

“Phil wouldn’t like that,” Anna countered, pushing away from her desk.

“Shut up and let’s go feed the baby.”

 

Coulson, by contrast, was anything but feeling the paperwork, as was evidenced by the fact that he’d been on the same damn page for ten minutes. He kept thinking about Fiona -- more precisely, about introducing her to Anna. They were the two most important women in his world, so how could he _not_ want them to meet each other?

He had the distinct impression that Anna wasn’t at all looking forward to it, though. He supposed he didn’t blame her -- she knew how much he’d cared for Fi, and how much Fi had cared for him. Given that, he could easily see how she’d feel a little awkward. But at the same time, he wanted her to be as happy about it as she was. Because Fiona was going to absolutely adore Anna.

He supposed he should’ve given Anna the option of coming with to pick Fiona up, but he hadn’t been thinking -- it’d seemed like the perfect opportunity for the two to meet in a low pressure situation that didn’t involve the three of them in a room and staring at each other.

Which reminded him, he’d have to see if Anna was up for having company for dinner -- Fi wasn’t likely to have a whole lot of free time, given that she was in town visiting family, so he wanted to spend as much time with her as he could.

He picked up his phone from its usual work-time resting spot on the desk and fired off a text.

_Hey, mind if I invite Fi for dinner tonight?_

That done, he turned his attention back to the work at hand. The phone buzzed a couple times; he ignored it for the moment in favor of finishing up the file he was in the middle of. He flipped it closed a few minutes later and took a quick glance at his phone.

_Fine by me. Want me to cook? :)_

Coulson laughed at that -- Anna couldn’t cook worth a damn. He loved her to death, and he appreciated her and her many talents, but even she admitted that cooking was most definitely not one of them. Unless you counted breakfast. Breakfast was the one meal she could somehow manage -- neither of them got it, really -- and he was pretty sure that breakfast for dinner wouldn’t be an appropriate meal for the situation.

_Don’t you dare. I’d like the apartment to not get burned down. I’ll cook._

The response came back almost right away.

_Jerk. :p_

Coulson just rolled his eyes, gave one last response -- _Yeah, but you love me anyway_ \-- and turned his attention back to work.


	4. Chapter 4

Farrell had dragged Anna out to their favorite semi-fast food place, despite Anna’s protests. Farrell’s only reaction had been to point out that a bit of fast food wasn’t going to hurt the baby and she’d more than make up for it by eating whatever Coulson would come up with for dinner -- because damn, could that man cook.

“Speaking of dinner,” Anna said as they took their seats. “Phil just asked if I’m okay with having Fiona over for dinner after we pick her up.”

“What are you going to say?” Farrell asked.

“What else _can_ I say?” Anna said, shifting her phone from the tray into her hand and firing off a quick response. “I don’t really have a choice but to say we can.”

“Of course you do,” Farrell said. “Agent Coulson’s not going to do something that’d upset you.”

“Yeah, but if I say no I look like I’m upset about it,” Anna replied. “And I’m not.”

“Uh-huh.” Farrell eyed her friend suspiciously.

“Okay, not upset exactly,” Anna said. “It’s more that… well, I’ve heard stories about her. About how smart and beautiful and funny she is. How can I compete with that?” And at the back of her mind she told herself that those worries were always going to be there now, thanks to Loki. She didn’t like that little back of the mind voice very much. Especially since it had her completely at odds with the fact that she really _did_ know that Phil loved her.

“You’re forgetting one thing,” Farrell said.

“What’s that?”

“That you don’t _need_ to compete with her.” Farrell took a bite of her cheeseburger. “Agent Coulson loves you, is having a child with you, is spending the rest of his _life_ with you.”

“And logically? I know that.” Anna gave a sheepish smile. “I really do. But right now, I can’t help but wonder.”

“Suppose that’s fair enough,” Farrell said. “But you gotta remember, he loves you and you love him. That’s what matters, not that his gorgeous ex is coming back into town.”

“Does it make me crazy to be jealous of a woman I’ve never even met?” Anna asked, poking listlessly at her food.

“Considering that anyone with eyes can see that Agent Coulson adores you?” Farrell countered. “Yeah. It really kind of does.”

Anna’s incredibly mature response was to throw a fry at the other woman.

“I didn’t say it wasn’t understandable nonetheless!” Farrell said, laughing. “You’re hormonal, you’ve still got emotional wounds from all the crap you’ve been through, and it’s only natural to wonder what exactly their connection is. But you need to realize that no, their connection is not the kind where he’s still interested in her.”

“I know that -- I _do_ ,” Anna insisted. “But… it’s scary to finally meet the woman I’m a follow-up to.”

“You aren’t a follow-up, Anna,” Farrell said with a quick shake of her head. “You’re the end. You’re the last woman he’s ever going to be with and he is _happy_ with that.”

“Y’know, for a while, that was actually kind of a scary idea. Because for a while I was afraid he’d get tired of me and just not know how to tell me.”

Farrell just gave Anna a Look. “Seriously?”

“Yup, seriously.”

“So how’d you get over that one?”

“I tried to leave him.” Anna ducked her head sheepishly. “Yeah, it was a dumb idea. It really hurt him, too. But we worked through that. And here we are now.”

“You, my friend are a strange, strange woman.”

Anna couldn’t argue with that.


	5. Chapter 5

By no small miracle, they were actually able to get out the door in time; Coulson insisted on driving to the airport. He pretty much always insisted on driving anywhere, since he didn’t think it was safe for Anna to do so. She wasn’t going to argue with him on it, since it was an absolutely harmless way for him to fuss over her without getting too up in her business about it -- and she knew how much he worried.

She’d have to be blind not to worry. She’d seen him watching her when he didn’t think she was paying attention. And she didn’t blame him for it. How could she? After everything they’d both been through in the past year, they understandably worried about each other.

“Do you think she’s going to like me?” Anna asked after a long moment, a note of not-quite-worry in her voice.

“Of course she is,” Coulson replied with a quick glance over at her. “How could she not?”

“I’m serious, Phil,” Anna said. “Do you really think she’s going to like me?”

“I really do,” Coulson said. “She’s going to adore you, actually.”

“I hope so.” She managed a smile. “Because she’s your friend and she’s important to you, so I want her to like me.”

“Well, she will.” He glanced over again. “What’s wrong, Anna?”

“What makes you think something’s wrong?”

“You seem rather fixated on whether or not she’ll like you,” he replied. “And you don’t generally actively fixate on whether or not someone will like you.”

Anna sighed. “I can’t help it, Phil,” she said. “She’s your ex-girlfriend. You were madly in love with her. And you didn’t split up all that long before you died. There’s bound to be a certain amount of feelings still there.”

Coulson sighed. “Anna, listen to me,” he said. “Yes, there are feelings still there. But they’re not what you’re afraid of. I’m always going to care for her, yes. And I’m always going to love her, yes. But it’s nothing even remotely like the way I love you. How could it be? The way I love you is… wonderful and breath-taking and utterly amazing and simultaneously the most beautiful and the most terrifying thing I’ve ever felt because sometimes I stop to think about losing you and it’s a punch to the gut.”

Anna was silent for a moment, a long moment, before saying, “And you didn’t feel that with her?”

He shook his head. “No. I didn’t. It hurt like hell when we broke up, yes. And yes, I missed her. But it just wasn’t going to work. We’re both extremely career-driven and our careers were taking us in separate directions. We tried to find a way to make it work, but in the end, it didn’t happen. There’s a reason most SHIELD agents don’t have successful relationships -- or at least don’t have successful long-term ones.”

She nodded slightly. “Because it’s not like we can go home at night and tell them what we did during the day.”

“Not the truth of it, anyway,” Coulson said. “We can always lie about it and really, there’s only so long you can tell a lie of that magnitude to the person you love.”

“Which is why we settled into things so quickly,” Anna said. “Even at the beginning of it, when we were just friends, we still got each other on a level that a lot of people didn’t. We could tell each other things that we couldn’t tell someone who didn’t do what we do.”

“Exactly,” he said. “That alone was reason to love you, but instead it was just the beginning of it.” At a stoplight, he reached over to take her hand in his and give it a quick squeeze. “And the rest has been the most amazing journey of my life.”

“Mine, too.” She gave him a sheepish but still cheerful smile. “I’m sorry for being so scattered and silly right now.”

“It’s alright,” he assured her. “Not to immediately blame it solely on hormones or anything, because that’s a disservice to you, but… you’re hormonal, which never helps, I’d imagine. But more importantly, you’re still dealing with the emotional and psychological scars that Loki inflicted. You’ve made remarkable strides, but there’s no way you’ll get over it quickly or easily. Nobody could. I mean, there’s a _reason_ we’re both still in therapy.”

Anna laughed at that.

Glad to hear her laugh, Coulson continued. “So adding those things together, plus the normal stresses of our lives… you’re going to be a little off-kilter from time to time. There’s nothing wrong with that. There will never be anything wrong with that.”

Anna simply smiled at him. “How do you always manage to make things make sense for me?”

“It’s just one of my many gifts.” He grinned.

Feeling better than she had since morning, Anna put her head back for the remainder of the trip to the airport.


	6. Chapter 6

Fiona Carson, Anna discovered, was a whirl of activity from the moment she hit the pick up area.

She and Coulson had both gotten out of the car to greet the woman and help her with her luggage; Fiona zoomed in first on Anna.

“Oh, it’s so nice to finally meet you! Phil’s said so much about you!” Quick hug and then Fiona was off to hug Coulson. “She’s even more beautiful than the pictures I’ve seen, Phil!”

And with that, she was off to toss her luggage in the trunk.

Anna just looked at Coulson and gave him a wide-eyed stare for a second. “Holy crap,” she muttered under her breath. “I’m suddenly starting to understand why it didn’t last.”

“I heard that!” Fiona sang out as she moved to open the back door on the passenger’s side.

Coulson just laughed. “When she’s right, she’s right, Fi.”

Turning several shades of red at the same time, Anna got back into the car. “I am _so_ incredibly sorry you heard that,” she said back to Fiona. “Hell, I’m sorry I even said it.”

Fiona just laughed. “It’s okay, I promise,” she said. “Phil used to tell me I was the Energizer bunny’s second cousin. I know I can be a little exhausting sometimes.”

“A _little_?” was Coulson’s less than helpful response as he pulled away.

“Be quiet, Phil, you’re the one who told me I was exhausting in the first place.” Fiona rolled her eyes. To Anna, she said, “He was never afraid to call me on my crap. It’s one of the things that made him great for me.”

“What made him not so great for you, then?” Anna asked. Yeah, she was being nosy, but she couldn’t help it. She wanted to know. And besides, any glimpse into Coulson’s past was worth it.

Fiona laughed softly. “Gets right to the point, this one. I like it. But anyway, yeah. Um, it was pretty much the fact that he’s a very quiet guy, very easy-going -- unless you’re harming someone that matters to him, of course. Made him a wonderful friend -- he’s _still_ a wonderful friend -- but the personality differences… and it wasn’t even a clash, it was just differences… made things interesting. Sometimes it worked in our favor, sometimes it didn’t.”

“And the fights weren’t exactly the most pleasant things, either,” Coulson pointed out.

“No, no they weren’t,” Fiona agreed.

“You two fought?” Anna was a little surprised at that. “I got the impression you didn’t.”

“Well, we did,” Fiona said. “They weren’t horrible fights and they weren’t screaming matches or anything, but it wasn’t perfect.”

Anna was still surprised. “I thought things were really great for you two.”

“They were, but it just… came down to a matter of compatibility,” Fiona said. “We weren’t as compatible as we needed to be. You two, however? You so very much are.”

Anna couldn’t help smiling to herself at that. “I like you already.” It was a lot easier to deal with Fiona’s presence in Coulson’s life when the woman was actually _there_ and wasn’t an unknown quantity any longer, she’d discovered.

Fiona laughed. “The feeling is very much mutual.”

Coulson suddenly had a very, very bad feeling about all of it.


	7. Chapter 7

They got back to the apartment twenty minutes or so later; Coulson disappeared into the kitchen while Fiona and Anna settled into the living room.

“I have no idea what he’s planning on making, just for the record,” Anna said, tucking herself into her usual position on the couch. “But he’s like the world’s most amazing cook, so I’m not at all worried.”

“His cooking was one of my favorite things about the relationship,” Fiona confided. “Because seriously? Even when I was in the worst mood possible, his cooking could cheer me up. Not even the food, necessarily, just how much of himself he puts into it.”

“Because it’s so obvious he enjoys it,” Anna said. “And if he’s doing that whole cooking to cheer someone up thing -- ‘cause I know exactly what you’re talking about -- he’s so painstakingly careful with it, like he’s afraid of screwing something up. And then he’s got this vaguely apprehensive look on his face until you’ve taken the first bite and assured him that it’s awesome.”

Fiona had a thoughtful look on her face. “You know, not so much,” she said. “I mean, he was always interested in whether or not I liked it, of course, but he didn’t have that look like you’re talking about.”

“Really?” Anna just looked at her. “That’s… surprising, I guess.”

“I think it’s because he’s still worried about you,” Fiona said. “I mean, you’ve both been through a lot in the past year, and I think your getting hurt scared him a lot more than he wants to admit to himself.”

Anna knew that the story they told most people was that she’d gotten hurt on the job, to explain the situation she was in, but she was also well aware of what the truth really was. And the idea that Coulson worried about her that much? It both warmed her heart a little and made her feel horrible for enjoying it.

“And it’s because the man’s head over heels for you, too,” Fiona said. “Because in all the time we were together, we never even remotely discussed moving in together. We spent the night at each other’s places on occasion, yes, but we never even thought about moving in together.”

And that was when Anna realized that Fiona didn’t know she was pregnant. “Phil!” she yelled.

“What?” came the response.

“You didn’t tell her, you idiot!”

“I thought we should do that together,” Coulson responded. “Give me a minute and I’ll be right there.”

“What’s wrong?” Fiona asked.

“Nothing’s wrong,” Anna assured her, standing as Coulson came into the room and crossing over to stand with him. She slipped her arm around his waist and leaned against him.

“Everything’s incredibly right, actually,” Coulson added, wrapping an arm around Anna’s shoulders and hugging her close against him. “We’ve got news for you, actually.”

“Oh?” Fiona looked at them curiously. “What is it?”

“We’re going to be parents,” Coulson replied, pressing a kiss to Anna’s temple.

Fiona couldn’t help but smile. The way Coulson felt about Anna was just so obvious on his face; the way she felt about him was equally obvious. It was really nice seeing that, seeing that he’d found somebody after her. Not that she’d expected him to be grief-stricken forever at the end of their relationship, of course not. But they’d both been upset about it, and he was still her friend so of course she’d been concerned. But everything had worked out beautifully for him and she couldn’t possibly be happier.

“That’s wonderful,” she said, bouncing up from her seat to hug them both. “But Phil, you idiot, why didn’t you tell me?”

“Like I said, I thought we should tell you together,” Coulson said as the three of them moved to settle down in various spots around the living room again -- him and Anna on the couch, Fiona in a nearby chair. “It was something I thought she and I should do together. Plus I wasn’t going to take that choice away from Anna. She’s the one carrying the baby, the one being most directly affected. She should have a say in it.”

“Well, no matter how you look at it, I’m glad you told me and I’m so happy for both of you.” Fiona grinned. “You two are going to have to keep me updated -- and if you don’t tell me when the baby’s born, I’m going to fly out here just to smack the both of you upside the heads.”

Anna laughed. “I promise, you’ll be one of the first people we tell.” Because once they told her small family, that was pretty much it outside of work-related people, because neither of them had very many friends and the ones they had were largely through work.

“Good, because if you don’t, remember that whole flying out here to smack you two thing,” Fiona said with a laugh. “Don’t think I won’t do it.”

“Somehow, I really think you would.”

And that was when an alarm in the kitchen went off. “That’d be my cue to get back to the food,” Coulson said, kissing Anna lightly before standing and heading for the kitchen.

Anna just smiled fondly and watched him go.


	8. Chapter 8

Dinner went by in a whirl of conversation and laughter and Coulson being pretty sure that the night was going to result in his girlfriend and his ex-girlfriend becoming very good friends -- and the realization that he could _absolutely_ live with that.

When dinner was over, the three of them resumed sitting around the living room again, Fiona and Coulson nursing cups of coffee while Anna enjoyed one of her rare cups of caffeinated tea. She knew caffeine wasn’t good for the baby, so it was maybe the eighth or ninth cup she’d had in the past three months -- and she tended to go through tea like it was water, so that number really said something about how concerned she was for the baby’s health and safety. It was her first time as a mother; she was determined to do it right, every part of it.

“How long are you in town?” Anna asked, taking a sip of her tea.

“Four days,” was Fiona’s reply. “I would’ve liked a longer vacation, but it was all I could manage -- there’s a performance that I absolutely can’t miss.”

“Well, it’d be really great if we could get together again at some point before you leave,” Anna said, with a shy smile.

“I’d love that,” Fiona said. “I really would. So you know what? I’m going to _make_ time for us to get together before I leave. Might just be lunch or something, but even so.”

Coulson couldn’t help but smile in relief. He’d been far more worried than he was willing to admit about whether or not the two women would get along. He knew Anna had been worried, albeit about things that she didn’t really need to be worried about, and he was grateful to discover that at the very least, the two women would be amicable.

He had a feeling they were going to end up as more, though, that they could actually be friends. And really, he was hoping for that.

He stifled a yawn; Fiona noticed it. “Long day?” she asked.

“Long day, not nearly enough sleep last night,” Coulson replied, taking a sip of his coffee. “But I’m used to it, so it’s not so bad.”

“I know what the long day thing is like,” Fiona said. “Playing in an orchestra? Way more time-consuming than most people realize it is.”

“What’s that like, anyway?” Anna asked curiously. “I can’t play an instrument to save my life, but I love music.”

“It’s the most amazing thing in the world,” Fiona said with a smile. “It’s a lot of hard work, but the end result? Is just utterly amazing.” Her smile turned into a grin. “If you’re ever out in Portland, give me a call. I’d be happy to get you into one of our performances.”

“That would be great,” Anna said. “I don’t know when we’ll manage to get out there, but I look forward to it already.”

“We’ll have to try and make a trip out there before the baby’s born,” Coulson said. “And before you’re too far along, just for the sake of comfort.”

“Well, whenever it is, let me know and I’ll get you in,” Fiona said. “And there are some beautiful hotels in the area that I really think you two would like.”

“We’ll have to get your recommendations before we go, then,” Anna said.

Fiona nodded, took a sip of her coffee, and glanced at her watch. “As much as I hate doing this, I really should get going,” she said. “I have to do this crazy early family breakfast tomorrow and I should probably get some sleep before I go to it.”

“Phil, you drive her to her hotel, I’ll start cleaning up the kitchen,” Anna said as she pushed herself to her feet.

Coulson smiled gratefully. They both knew fully well that for the most part, he cleaned the kitchen up as he went. This was her way of showing that she wasn’t worried anymore, that she’d handled whatever had been bothering her and was perfectly okay now.

“In that case…” he said, standing and pressing his coffee cup into Anna’s hands and a kiss to her cheek. “I’ll be back soon.”

“It was wonderful to finally get the chance to meet you,” Fiona said to Anna as she stood. She moved to hug the other woman, albeit carefully given the cups in each hand. “I’m glad everything Phil told me about you was true.”

Anna laughed softly and managed to return the hug. “It was even nicer to meet you,” she said. “It certainly took us long enough.”

“It won’t be so long til next time.”

A few more pleasantries were exchanged before Coulson and Fiona headed out. When the door shut behind them, Anna just shook her head and smiled to herself.

She’d been worried about meeting Coulson’s ex-girlfriend but had managed to make herself a new friend despite her worries. That wasn’t so bad after all.


End file.
